Butterball Turkeys Sold in the U.S.A. Are Blessed by Allah and Halal
Certified-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor: This is a forwarded email that
warns that Butterball turkeys that Americans may have bought and
consumed for Thanksgiving were blessed by Allah and Halal certified.

The Truth: A spokesperson from the Butterball Company
told TruthOrFiction.com that Butterball Turkeys sold in the U.S.A. are
neither blessed nor are they Halal certified.

This rumor was sparked by an article written by Pamela Gellar that
appeared in the
American Thinker on November 21, 2011 warning that the popular
Butterball turkeys that Americans may consume for Thanksgiving are
probably Halal, "whether you like it or not."

Halal dietary laws described by Sharia dictate that animals for food be
put to death by a sharp knife making a swift, deep incision cutting the
front of the throat, the carotid artery, wind pipe and jugular veins.

The company spokesperson told us that Butterball does export product
around the world that meets certain guidelines set down by the U.S.D.A.
for Islamic countries but the butchering process is done mechanically
and may not meet the strict guidelines of fundamental Islam for actual
certification.

updated 11/25/11

A real example of the eRumor as it has
appeared on the Internet:

Has Your Thanksgiving Turkey Been
Blessed by Allah?

Your Thanksgiving turkey might have been blessed by Allah! But first, a
little background.

Food plays a big part in some religions. In Judaism, certain foods are
prohibited. Pork is the big one, but there‟s a long list of other
forbidden foods that don‟t pass the kosher test. “Reasons for food not
being kosher include the presence of ingredients derived from nonkosher
animals or from kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered, a
mixture of meat and milk, wine or grape juice (or their derivatives)
produced without supervision, the use of produce from Israel that has
not been tithed, or the use of nonkosher cooking utensils and
machinery.”

When I was learning Hebrew, I had the privilege of being taught by a
Rabbi‟s wife. Their house was all kosher. Eating utensils could not be
washed with soaps that contained fat since an observant Jew cannot eat
fat. That‟s why I love Jewish delicatessens: lean meat.

The kosher symbol can be found on stores owned by Jews who sell kosher
foods and their products.

The Bible does not indicate that kosher laws are related to health.
“Clean” and “unclean don‟t mean “healthy” and “unhealthy.” “If clean
means or indicates healthy, and unclean means unhealthy, then when a
person became unclean he became unhealthy.” But this is not the case.
Jesus healed the sick, but He cleansed the leper.[1] There‟s something
else going on with the dietary laws than health.

One of the oldest food laws in the Bible is the command against boiling
“a kid in its mother‟s milk” (Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 14:21). A kid
could be boiled in another mother‟s milk but not in its own mother‟s
milk. This is not a health regulation. James B. Jordan writes:
“Jerusalem is the mother of the seed (Ps. 87:5; Gal. 4:26ff.). When
Jerusalem crucified Jesus Christ, her Seed, she was boiling her kid in
her own milk. In Revelation 17, the apostate Jerusalem has been
devouring her faithful children: „And I saw the woman drunk with the
blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.‟

Her punishment, under the Law of Equivalence, is to be devoured by the
gentile kings who supported her (v. 17).”[2] Other religions have
regulations governing how foods are prepared. Islam is a good example.
Now we learn that big-name food producing companies are following
Islamic halal standards. Here‟s a story reported by WorldNetDaily: As
you sit down with your family on Thanksgiving and consider offering a
prayer of gratitude, be aware the turkey at the center of the table may
have already been “blessed” – in the name of Allah.

Customer service representatives from Butterball, one of America‟s most
popular Turkey brands, confirmed to WND that the company‟s whole turkeys
are – without being labeled as such – slaughtered according to Islamic
“halal” standards. “Halal slaughter involves cutting the trachea, the
esophagus and the jugular vein and letting the blood drain out while
saying, „Bismillah allahu akbar‟ – „in the name of Allah the greatest,‟”
explains Pamela Geller, author of “Stop the Islamization of America: A
Practical Guide to the Resistance.”“Many people refuse to eat it on
religious grounds.

Many Christians, Hindus or Sikhs and Jews find it offensive to eat meat
slaughtered according to Islamic ritual.” She continues on her blog,
Atlas Shrugs, “I don‟t want to eat halal. Not a bite – and yet this is
being shoved down the throats of Americans without their knowledge.”
Multiple phone representatives at Butterball confirmed the turkeys are
slaughtered according to halal standards, and one named Tracy (she
declined to give her last name) further confirmed the words of Islamic
dedication are spoken over the birds. None, however, could explain
exactly how the slaughters are performed. “I don‟t actually work in the
processing plant,” Tracy explained.

As WND reported earlier this year, however, Butterball isn‟t the only
company that may be serving halal meats to unaware customers. So what do
you think? Do you have a problem eating a turkey that was given the
halal treatment? Are you upset that Butterball does not indicate that
their birds were slaughtered by halal standards like Jews do with their
kosher symbols?